This is not to say that it’s a bad product—I’d strongly
recommend it for the occasional juicer—but if you go
through a lot of citrus juice (some people believe that lemon
juice is as important as salt, just ask the Greeks!), there are a
number of other options on the market. I use the Two-in-
One Juicer from Amco ($19.95). You place the citrus cut
side down in the perforated cup-shaped holder, then
squeeze the handles together to extract the juice. It’s fast,
efficient, and much easier on the hands than a conventional
reamer. The only issue is that it sometimes leaves a bit of
juice behind, forcing you to manually squeeze the empty
citrus shells for maximum extraction. And though it comes
in small (green), medium (yellow), and large (orange) sizes,
intended for limes, lemons, and oranges, the yellow one
works fine for both lemons and limes, making it the one to
get.
- Cake Tester
I know many chefs and cooks who keep a cake tester
tucked into the pen pocket of their whites and none who use
them to test cakes. Not that you can’t test a cake’s doneness
with them, it’s just why would you, when there are so many
more interesting assisted-poking tasks at which it excels?
Essentially a heavy-gauge wire with a handle, it’s about as
simple as a tool can get. The idea is that you poke it into the
center of a cake and pull it out. If it comes out clean, the
cake is done. So, it’s sort of like a glorified toothpick, but
the fact that it’s long and made of metal means that it’s
useful for all kinds of other things.
The most obvious is testing the doneness of vegetables.